Design Of Kitchen Utensils For Disabled Individuals With One Arm Based On Empathy Design Concept

The World Health Organization(WHO)and the China Disabled Persons’ Association estimate that approximately 15% of the world’s people suffer from some form of disability,which also means that there are over 1.2 billion people with disabilities worldwide.Among this vast group of people with disabilities,physical disabilities are the most common,accounting for approximately 29%.Individuals with physical disabilities are greatly hindered in their normal behavior and activities due to their own limitations.In the context of China’s entry into a new era of moderately prosperous society and comprehensive development,providing products that can help disabled people is the foundation for enabling them to better complete a better life.Therefore,this study takes the concept of empathy design as the theoretical research point of design,explores the cooking behavior of single armed disabled kitchens,proposes relevant design strategies for single armed disabled kitchenware products,and finally,through relevant design practices,helps them achieve independent daily cooking.This article combines the concept of empathy design with the context of emotional needs upgrading,and the urgent development of disabled equipment.Firstly,based on theoretical research,the market status of disabled kitchen utensils was analyzed,and the existing problems of single arm disabled kitchen utensils were identified.Secondly,based on the principle of empathy design,the empathy design method will be investigated at three levels: "observation level empathy","interaction level empathy",and "immersion level empathy",to deeply explore the needs of kitchen utensils for one-armed disabled people.Then,the empathy demand data for single armed disabled kitchen utensils were sorted and summarized,and the AHP Analytic Hierarchy Process was used to rank the weight of the demand data to determine the level of empathy demand,providing data support for the design of single armed disabled kitchen utensils products.Once again,the design principles of kitchen auxiliary appliances for single arm disabled people were elaborated from three aspects: safety attributes,functional attributes,and emotional attributes.The design strategy was proposed to enhance the value of kitchen appliance products through "systematization" and increase the applicability of kitchen appliance products through "emotional".Finally,based on the preliminary analysis,it was determined that the single arm disabled kitchen appliance product would be the design practice object.Based on the analysis of the empathy needs of single armed disabled individuals in the early stage,the design transformation of single armed disabled kitchen utensils was completed.Then,the empathy effect was verified and improved through design evaluation methods,providing reference significance for the design practice of single armed disabled kitchen utensils in the future.